New York State Teachers Retirement System Has $3.18 Million Stock Holdings in Universal Co. (NYSE:UVV)

New York State Teachers Retirement System cut its stake in shares of Universal Co. (NYSE:UVV) by 1.4% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 47,288 shares of the company’s stock after selling 679 shares during the quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System’s holdings in Universal were worth $3,183,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of UVV. Pacer Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Universal during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $71,187,000. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Universal by 21.7% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,139,598 shares of the company’s stock valued at $53,800,000 after buying an additional 203,514 shares during the last quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Universal by 19.0% in the third quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 1,117,463 shares of the company’s stock valued at $52,755,000 after buying an additional 178,592 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Universal by 2,841.9% in the first quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 171,983 shares of the company’s stock valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 166,137 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of Universal by 8.2% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,514,372 shares of the company’s stock valued at $91,620,000 after buying an additional 114,160 shares during the last quarter. 81.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, StockNews.com cut Universal from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 10th.

Universal Stock Performance

UVV opened at $49.45 on Tuesday. Universal Co. has a 12-month low of $44.40 and a 12-month high of $67.80. The stock has a market cap of $1.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.31 and a beta of 0.79. The business has a 50 day moving average of $50.42 and a 200-day moving average of $53.77. The company has a quick ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 3.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42.

Universal (NYSE:UVV) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 7th. The company reported $2.16 earnings per share for the quarter. The company had revenue of $821.51 million for the quarter. Universal had a return on equity of 7.46% and a net margin of 4.98%.

Universal Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 8th will be paid a dividend of $0.80 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 5th. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.47%. Universal’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 60.26%.

About Universal

Universal Corporation processes and supplies leaf tobacco and plant-based ingredients worldwide. The company operates through two segments, Tobacco Operations; and Ingredients Operations. It is involved in the procuring, financing, processing, packing, storing, and shipping leaf tobacco for sale to manufacturers of consumer tobacco products.